Health News Tidbits

Health News Tidbits – November 2003

Daily Aspirin Linked With Pancreatic Cancer -
Women who take an aspirin a day may raise their risk of getting deadly pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer affects only 31,000 Americans a year, but it kills virtually all its victims within three years. The prestigious 88,000 member nurse's study found that those who took two or more aspirin a week for twenty years or more had a 58 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer. Those who took 14 tablets or more per week had an 86 percent greater risk of pancreatic cancer than non-users. American Association for Cancer Research

Red Wine Good for Your Lungs -
Reservatrol, a compound found naturally in red wine could help fight chronic bronchitis and emphysema by reducing the amount of harmful chemicals in the lungs. Researchers believe that reservatrol cuts the production of interleukin 8, a chemical that causes inflammation in the lungs. Journal Thorax 10/28/03

Toddler's Diet Deplorable -
A study of more than 3,000 toddler's found that significant numbers are eating french fries, pizza, candy, and soda. Children 1-2 years old are taking calories in excess of nearly thirty percent. Patterns look exactly like the problematic adult American dietary patterns. One third of children younger than two consumed no fruits or vegetables. Those that did, french fries were the most common selection. More than twenty percent had french fries daily. For twenty five percent of children, hot dogs, sausage and bacon were daily staples. More than seventy percent had dessert or candy at least once per day. The final results of the Feeding Infants and Toddler study will be published in January's Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Vitamin D Deficiency Emerges as New Epidemic -
With people spending more time indoors, especially in cold weather, and frequent swapping of vitamin D drinks for soda, Americans are not getting the vitamin D they need, according to experts. A minimum of twenty five percent of adolescents and adults in this country are vitamin D deficient, thus increasing the risk of osteoporosis and the re-emergence of rickets in children.
National Institutes of Health

Exercise May Lower Stroke Risk -
In a review of 23 international studies, the more physical activity a person does, the lower the risk of stroke. Highly active people had a twenty seven percent lower risk of having a stroke or dying from one, compared with people who got little or no physical activity
American Heart Association Journal Stroke

Lancet Berates Makers of New Statin Drug -
Excerpts from an editorial appearing in October's The Lancet. After a damaging delay over safety concerns, Rosuvastatin finally won US FDA approval in August. AstraZeneca, the makers of this new cholesterol-lowering statin, launched a one billion first year promotional campaign. There is no clinical end-point trial yet completed, so how can there be licensing for an unproven statin? Safety is a big concern: the 80 mg dose was withdrawn by AstraZeneca because of safety concerns because of microscopic haematuria and proteinuria. "Doctors should pause before prescribing this drug. Physicians must tell their patients the truth about Rosuvastatin--that, compared with its competitors, has an inferior evidence base supporting its safe use."

Prenatal Calcium Lower Kids' Blood Pressure -
Toddlers whose mothers took calcium supplements while they were pregnant had lower blood pressure than those whose moms did not. Researchers say that such calcium intake may help "program" fetal blood pressure, with effects that may persist into adulthood. Amer J Hypertension October 2003

Healthy Lifestyle Can Delay the Onset of Breast Cancer -
Even among women at the highest genetic risk of the disease, if they exercise, were likely to develop cancer later in life than women who did not exercise. Similarly, women who avoiding becoming obese also developed cancer later in life. According to the New York Breast Cancer Study Group, it is increasingly evident that lifestyle changes such as exercise and weight control could modify the impact of genetic risk. Journal Science, October

Mercury in Fish May Not be as Bad as Previously Thought -
Scientists at the University of Saskatchewan raise the possibility that the mercury that collects in fish may be in a form that is less harmful than the form that had been previously thought to build up in fish tissue. Different mercury compounds have different toxicities. The mercury form discovered was cysteine bound, which is believed to be less toxic than other forms. More research is need and will be forthcoming on this issue.
Journal Science 8/29/03

Dancing May Delay Dementia -
Dancing was the only physical activity associated with a drop in the incidence of dementia, according to researchers at the Albert Einstein Center in New York. Those who danced three or four times weekly showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia that those who danced only once a week or not at all. The study also showed that doing puzzles, mind games and other mentally stimulating activities also reduce the incidence of dementia.
New England Journal Medicine 10/14/03

GM Crop Trials Fuel Demands for Ban -
After more than three years of testing, scientists in Europe concluded that genetically modified rapeseed (canola) and sugar beet were more harmful to local wildlife than conventionally grown plants. This adds more legitimacy to the European Union's ban of genetically modified seeds. Based on these results, Monsanto, the company who provided the sugar beets for the trials, was pulling out of the European seed business. The move is a severe blow to efforts to pioneer developments in biotechnology.
Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC)

EU Says Science Backs Its Beef Ban -

Adding fuel to the fire of a long standing dispute with the United States over imports of beef raised using growth promoting hormone, the European Union says it now has evidence to support the ban. The science is being shared with the United States before being released to the public. European Union Press Release

Magnesium in Diet May Alter Heart Disease Risk -
In a study of more than 7,000 men, within 15 years of the first dietary assessment, the rate of heart disease was significantly lower than those with the highest daily magnesium intake (340 mg or more) compared with those with the lowest intake (186 mg or less). The researchers calculate that the rate of heart disease was the equivalent of 4 cases per 1000 people per year for the high magnesium group, versus 7 cases among those with the lowest intake. American Journal of Cardiology, September 2003

Multivitamins Linked With Reduced Risk of Heart Attack -
Multivitamin/mineral supplement users may have a lower risk for myocardial infarction, according to the Vitamin Nutrition Information Service. It was significantly linked with a reduced risk for a first heart attack among both men (22% reduced risk) and women (33% reduced risk). Journal Nutrition, August

Vitamin C Inhibits Lipid Oxidation in HDL -
HDL (healthy cholesterol marker) are susceptible to oxidation, which affects their cardio protective properties. This study demonstrated that vitamin C inhibits lipid oxidation in HDL and preserves the antioxidant activity associated with this lipoprotein fraction. Journal Nutrition. 133:3047-3051, October 2003

Black Tea Consumption Reduces Bad Cholesterol in Mildly High Adults -
Inclusion of tea in a diet moderately low in bad fat reduces total and LDL cholesterol by significant amounts and may, therefore, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. The placebo-controlled study showed that five servings tea daily reduced total cholesterol 6.5%, LDL cholesterol 11.1%, apolipoprotein B 5% and lipoprotein(a) 16.4% compared to the placebo.
Journal Nutrition. 133:3298S-3302S, October 2003

Vitamins Save Health Care Costs -
According to a nationally funded study, vitamins could improve overall health, making elderly people less likely to need drugs or hospital care. The five-year estimate of potential savings in older adults from improved immune function and reduced risk of coronary artery disease with a daily multivitamin/mineral is approximately $1.6 billion. Echoing the 1998 findings of the prestigious Nurses' study which found a 24% reduction in the risk of heart attacks among women who took daily multivitamins, the current study was launched with an aim of finding an inexpensive way to save money in health care. US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Wyeth Consumer Health

Antibiotics Link to Baby Asthma -
Scientists warn that doctors should be more cautious about prescribing antibiotics to babies under six months because they may interfere with the development of the gut and therefore the immune system. The study of 448 children showed that by age seven, children given at least one antibiotic during their first six months were 2.5 times more likely to have developed asthma than those who ere not given the drugs. Overall, they were 1.5 times more likely to have developed some form of allergy. Annual Conference of the European Respiratory Society

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